Eating and Drinking During and After Sport

During most sports, your body's main fuel mix comes from carbohydrate (from muscle glycogen and blood glucose) and fat. Generally, if your sport involves less than an hour of activity, you will perform well without having to refuel during the event. With good food choices, you should be able to fuel up adequately before your sport, and then replace the fuels you have used with your post-event meals. On the other hand, sweat losses accrue from the start of your activity and, in many sports or conditions, may cause a fluid deficit that interferes with performance.  This calls for an individualised fluid plan during and after exercise to manage the fluid deficit and replace it after exercise.

Practical considerations

• During sporting activities, it is important to have a fluid plan that replaces most of the athlete's sweat loss.
• In events of 60 minutes or longer, replacing carbohydrate during the event may enhance performance.
• Experiment to find a plan that works for you and your sport
• A refueling target of 30 - 60grams of carbohydrate per hour of activity is a good starting point. 
• In shorter events, even a small amount of carbohydrate can be useful, while in ultra-endurance events, higher intakes may be needed.
• After exercise, the athlete may speed up their recovery by choosing meals and snacks providing fluid, carbohydrate, protein and salt.

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